Mar. 23 - Wk 3 - Day 6 - "Seeking to know Jesus better"

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and sisters,

God willing, tomorrow we come to the end of our 33 Day Journey of Preparation for Total Consecration of ourselves to Jesus through Mary. St. Louis de Montfort wrote:

1. As all perfection consists in our being conformed, united and consecrated to Jesus it naturally follows that the most perfect of all devotions is that which conforms, unites, and consecrates us most completely to Jesus. Now of all God’s creatures Mary is the most conformed to Jesus. It therefore follows that, of all devotions, devotion to her makes for the most effective consecration and conformity to Him. The more one is consecrated to Mary, the more one is consecrated to Jesus.

That is why perfect consecration to Jesus is but a perfect and complete consecration of oneself to the Blessed Virgin, which is the devotion I teach; or in other words, it is the perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holy baptism.

We can never thank God enough for His great Love for us – today’s Gospel of the prodigal son is a good Image of how a loving father ran to and embraced his wayward child rejoicing that “the lost had been found”. So too does God rejoice when we return to Him and give ourselves more completely to His Mercy. God so loved the world that He gave us Jesus, “friend of sinners” to save us, and Jesus gave us our Mother to be a “refuge for sinners”.

By God’s Grace, let us seek to know God’s Love coming to us by the power of His Holy Spirit, as Jesus came to Mary through the same Holy Spirit:

The Litany to the Holy Spirit - HERE
Ave Maris Stella - HERE
Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus - HERE

 

[hazcompat]

The grace of Christmas is given to all, but it is received in fullness only with Mary, and by imitating her. The silence of the mother of Jesus is a silence of contemplation and transformation. It helps us to understand the mystery of divine love and to let ourselves be transformed by the God who became man in a humble stable.

At the school of the Virgin of Christmas, the Christian understands that the most beautiful life that he can have is the one that befalls him. He learns to read the Word of God written in the daily events of his life.

In saying so we are not confusing contemplation and fatalistic resignation, but we learn to connect events together, like the Virgin did in Bethlehem, in order to see the masterpiece that God is building in our lives, with our cooperation.

This is part of the grace of Christmas. Jesus wasn’t just born in Bethlehem on December 25th. He is born in our hearts whenever we become aware that God is working in us. But for us to make this staggering discovery, we must be silent, to hear to the Word in us.

No one is more qualified to teach us the practice of contemplation than Mary.

Adapted from an article by Jean-Michel Castaing

January 2019

Aleteia

Read more on mariedenazareth.com:​

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death.
Amen.

Peace

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear hazcompat,

Thanks for your reply. I’m not familiar with Jean-Michel Castaing. I looked at the Aleteia link and saw the article but could not get it in English. When you have a moment to spare, could you tell me more about him?

 

[hazcompat]

Mary’s trust made the New Covenant possible​

Mary is first “the one who believed,” as her cousin Elizabeth told her during the Visitation. It is important to underscore the central place of faith in the Virgin’s life, because original sin has to do with faith before having to do with transgression and punishable acts. In the story of the fall of Adam and Eve found in Genesis, the first couple falls from grace because of the credit they gave to the suggestions of the serpent, who portrayed God as a jealous, suspicious, mistrustful, stingy master who feared competition. In listening to this demonic voice, Adam and Eve lost faith in the God’s goodness, who for them had stopped being a Father full of love and attention.

On the other hand, a new era of human history began with Mary, because she, who became the mother of Jesus, Son of the promise, believed in the promises of God delivered by the voice of the angel Gabriel, saying that she would give birth to the Son of the Most High. In the same manner, she continued to believe at the foot of the Cross—and under what conditions!

For Mary, God remains the Father of Israel and of all humanity. She never doubted his fundamental goodness, simply because she remained untouched by the fallout of original sin. Thus, praying to Our Lady is praying with the intention of growing in the faith. And the more we believe in the loving fatherhood of God, the more zealous we will be in embellishing the bride He has given to his Son: the Church.

Jean-Michel Castaing, French Theologian

Aleteia, October 9, 2018

 

[MariaChristi]

Thanks, again hazcompat for your reply. I think I had some real questions on some of the phrases in the first excerpt and at first I wondered at the opening sentence here, but sharing it with my husband he clarified for me that It seems in this excerpt, he is saying “relatively speaking” Mary made possible the new Covenant for her “Yes” made it possible for the Lord’s Will to be done as He desired it. Had she not said her “Yes” God could have found another way for nothing is impossible to Him.

As St. Louis de Montfort wrote in True Devotion:

1. Mary’s part in the Incarnation

1. With the whole Church I acknowledge that Mary, being a mere creature fashioned by the hands of God is, compared to his infinite majesty, less than an atom, or rather is simply nothing, since he alone can say, “I am he who is”. Consequently, this great Lord, who is ever independent and self-sufficient, never had and does not now have any absolute need of the Blessed Virgin for the accomplishment of his will and the manifestation of his glory. To do all things he has only to will them.
2. However, I declare that, considering things as they are, because God has decided to begin and accomplish his greatest works through the Blessed Virgin ever since he created her, we can safely believe that he will not change his plan in the time to come, for he is God and therefore does not change in his thoughts or his way of acting.